Déjà Vu: The Uber Debate Returns

The agreement that kept Uber and Lyft in San Antonio expires in July and the city wants your opinion about what to do next

By Chris Warren

Photo Courtesy Shutterstock

The celebrations may have been premature.

In the February edition of San Antonio Magazine we published a story detailing how the city’s formerly disorganized tech community found its collective voice in the fight over a city ordinance that prompted companies Uber and Lyft to cease local operations in early 2015.

Not only did the squabble over Uber and Lyft—which was resolved when the companies signed a temporary operating agreement with the city last year—result in a more cohesive voice for the growing tech industry, it also emboldened its umbrella organization known as Tech Bloc to promote its vision of a more walkable, millennial-friendly San Antonio.

But the city’s techies may need to think less about the future and more about revisiting its past efforts to keep Uber and Lyft in San Antonio. The 9-month agreement that made fingerprint background checks optional for drivers of the ride-hailing companies expires in July, and the city is looking for input about whether to extend it.

Earlier today, the city released a video asking citizens to weigh in on whether the likes of Uber, Lyft, Get Me and Bid My Ride should be allowed to continue operating under less stringent rules than those that govern taxis, limos and others in the so-called “vehicle-for-hire” industry. The city is hosting roundtables on May 18 and June 1 to hear from citizens and also has an online survey at sanantonio.gov/rideshare.

Just yesterday, Tech Bloc shared a Facebook post about the results of Austin’s election on Proposition 1, a Lyft- and Uber-sponsored ballot measure asking citizens to overturn a city ordinance requiring transportation network company drivers to undergo fingerprint background checks. The proposition failed and, as threatened, Lyft and Uber suspended operations on Monday, May 9. “Glad our Tech Bloc community was able to work with our city leaders to avoid this disaster,” the Tech Bloc poster wrote on Facebook.

It will be interesting to see whether that sanguine attitude remains as the debate over ride-share in San Antonio ramps up again. The argument that San Antonio’s own reputation as a tech-friendly city is at stake may be less potent this time around, given the vote in Austin and similar ordinances being discussed in cities like Los Angeles and Chicago. While the Austin-American Statesman mulled whether the results there would harm the city’s reputation as a place friendly to tech startups, it also questioned whether the $9 million Uber and Lyft spent campaigning in favor of the measure ended up hurting their cause.

Any debate in San Antonio may be moot. After the Austin vote, some Republican state legislators began floating the idea of a statewide law ride-share law that trumps local ordinances.